a dose of coffee
by SerpentineShadows
Summary: Café AU. Heejung doesn't see what's so great about the new café. Jiwoo doesn't see why Heejung has to be so dense.
1. Intro

**A/N:** So, I've only watched some Youtubers play this game. And since they've only played Jiwoo's route so far, I present to you some Jiwoo/Heejung.

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><p>"Heejung, you have to come to this café with us. It's amazing," one of her classmates gushes, tugging on her sleeve.<p>

The other girls around them squeal in sync, all of them talking at once. From the snippets she catches, Heejung gathers that a recently-opened café called "The Bunny Café," which to Heejung is a really unoriginal name, that started in America has become popular because of "the super-cute waiter" that looks so grumpy all the time that they "just want to squish his cheeks."

Heejung's unsure of the logic in that, and she finds herself reluctant to abandon her regular café just because of a waiter.

In the end, she gets dragged to the, frankly, disappointing café. Heejung doesn't know what she'd expected—maybe someplace luxurious that offered insanely low prices for incredible coffee, _something_ that could explain the hype behind the place—but this place isn't it. Heejung convinces herself that just because the place doesn't look special, it doesn't mean she should dismiss the service or the coffee.

Heejung looks at the prices, and they're similar to those of the café she frequents; in fact, the choices are practically the same. As her classmates order, Heejung picks a random one and goes to sit at a booth in the corner. Heejung's classmates are looking around at all the waiters and cashiers, reminding Heejung of the obsessed wife she saw on the soap opera channel the other day.

Eventually, her classmates calm down and move to find seats. They still chatter among themselves and stare at the waiters in an invasive manner, but at least they're not blocking other customers. Heejung looks around more and finds that most of the customers are female. It's even weirder for her to realize that a lot of them are acting the way her classmates are. This realization alarms Heejung a little, and she thinks she prefers her usual café over this one, especially since it's not occupied by teenage girls and even some full-grown woman acting crazy.

"Here's your order, miss," a waitress says, placing a cup onto the table.

Heejung crosses off service from her mental list. There's only one thing left to redeem this place: the coffee. Heejung takes a sip, expecting something that will amaze her, but she's disappointed yet again. At least the employees' outfits seem somewhat unique, Heejung decides. Most of them sport bunny ears and tails to go with the name of the café, and it's a bit weird but kind of cute too.

Heejung ends up spending the afternoon sipping coffee and observing the women in the café. It's really quite boring, and Heejung decides her usual place is much, much better.

It sounds a bit mean when she thinks about it, but it becomes more interesting in the café when the waiter doesn't show for work. Several customers—ones who'd refilled their drinks so many times Heejung lost count—approach the other employees and demand to know where he is. Heejung's unimpressed by the waiter for lacking the determination to consistently show up to work when there are others out there, like her, who work hard everyday.

Even so, Heejung guesses it doesn't hurt to admit that she's interested in the waiter who's able to capture the attention of so many women.


	2. Unsavory First Impressions

**A/N:** Thanks for reviewing, **Guest**, and yeah, I actually do catch your drift. And thank you very much for reviewing too, **es**.

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><p>Heejung's wondering whether or not she should blame her classmates or her own curiosity for her current situation. Sipping coffee while eyeing the employees is nowhere near a productive way of spending her time. The past few hours could've been spent studying, which to be honest she hates, or maybe drawing. Well, nothing really forbids Heejung from drawing in her sketchbook at a café. Actually, it probably makes her seem less creepy, less like the other women that have flocked here to stalk the mystery waiter.<p>

Within moments of taking out her sketchbook, Heejung's forgotten why she'd come to this café. She becomes engrossed in sketching the scene before her: a customer walking up to the register; several others in the background, cups in hand; a girl, throwing her head back as she laughs. Heejung takes care to make sure every detail's perfect, from the twinkle in the laughing girl's eyes and the bored look the cashier sports.

Time ticks by, and some customers come while others go. Heejung remains oblivious to her surroundings, humming while she draws. It's a miracle that she can stay focused, even when the chattering around her increases in volume.

"Isn't he just so _cute_?" a voice squeals from the table next to Heejung's. She hears it, of course, but the words don't register. Heejung's trying to perfect the calming atmosphere the café emanates during the moment she's captured, and it's a bit difficult with the limited colors she has.

Heejung's startled from her task when a plate is pushed onto her table, bumping her arm. A little annoyed, Heejung drops her pencil and turns to face the employee.

"Excuse me, but I didn't order this," she says, gesturing to the stack of pancakes.

Heejung looks back at the waiter and finds herself looking closer at him. He's not..._unattractive_. His blond hair looks a bit like it's been messed up on purpose, and his green eyes are dazzling...and his lips look kind of soft. They'd probably feel nice and velvety against hers—

"It's on the house," the man—Jiwoo, according to his name tag—says as he smiles.

And, Heejung thinks, his smile's kind of dazzling, too. It's a bit unfair that he's so not-unattractive.

"Or rather, I'm buying it for you," he continues.

That snaps Heejung out of her reverie. She starts to notice that a lot of the women are sighing dreamily in her direction. Obviously, it's not _her_ that's causing them to react this way, so it must be Jiwoo. Someone's words from earlier come back to her: _"There's this waiter that works here, and he's super cute."_ _Super cute_ and _not-unattractive_ can mean the same thing, right? And all these people are staring, so Jiwoo's probably the reason why this café's so popular.

This prompts her to re-examine the male in front of her. There's nothing _that_ special about him.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" Jiwoo asks, sitting in the chair across from her.

"Thank you for the pancakes, uh, Jiwoo," Heejung says, "but shouldn't you be working?"

"I'm sure the boss wouldn't mind," Jiwoo says as he glances over to the register, where one of the other workers glares at him.

With those words, Heejung adds _slacker_—and underlines it for good measure—to her mental list of Jiwoo's traits.

Heejung finds herself wondering, not for the first time (and probably not the last), how one guy could make a café popular. He's not even that special, disregarding his looks (which pale in comparison to a model's): all Heejung's gathered from this short conversation is that Jiwoo is more than a bit pushy.

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><p><strong>AN: **I've got some drama planned for the distant future. And my (kinda late) condolences to anyone who's been victimized by the _Charlie Hebdo_ (I'm fairly sure that's what the newspaper was called) incident.


	3. Fifteen Faces of a Maiden's Heart

When Heejung bumps into Jiwoo a second time, surprisingly, it isn't at the café. Heejung sees him at her favorite bookshop without girls ogling over his looks. She almost doesn't recognize who he is at first since he's out of uniform (which includes those oddly-fitting bunny ears). It doesn't help that Jiwoo's wearing a semi-fancy lilac button-up, and he's got _glasses_. The glasses don't make Jiwoo any less attractive, not that Heejung'd ever admit he's attractive in the first place, but they give him more of a scholarly aura.

Jiwoo has his nose stuck in a book, eyes intensely flitting over the page. He's doing another thing that annoys Heejung: reading the book in the store so as to not buy it. Although she's a bit peeved, Heejung cranes her neck to take a look at the cover of Jiwoo's book.

She almost blanches at the sight of the cover. Garish hearts decorate the cover in a variety of vomit-inducing colors. There's no doubt that Jiwoo's reading a terribly-written romance novel. Heejung takes another peek, feeling a bit like a creep for doing so, and finds that she recognizes the book. It's become a sensation lately among her classmates, just like Jiwoo and his café: _Fifteen Faces of a Maiden's Heart_, written by an anonymous author, is regarded as the best romance novel of the century. Personally, Heejung thinks the title was created by stringing random words together (though there are fanatics that claim otherwise) and what little of it that she read was disgusting.

Heejung has to take another look at the cover of Jiwoo's book to make sure she saw it right. It doesn't change. Heejung finds herself grimacing at Jiwoo's choice in books. Of all the romance novels, he had to choose _Fifteen Faces of a Maiden's Heart_. And he's so focused in reading it, as if the book is actually worthy of his attention.

"Are you just going to stand there and shake your head?"

Heejung's reaction is not a pleasant one. She drops the book in her hands (and she cringes when she sees the pages are now bent) and manages to trip over nothing and fall.

Jiwoo's attention remains mostly on his book, but he does reach out a hand for Heejung and add a comment: "You're so clumsy."

"Because you startled me," Heejung says, accepting his hand.

It's much, much softer than she expects it to be. Heejung's actually envious of how smooth Jiwoo's hands are, and then she blushes for even thinking such a thing.

"Why are you blushing?"

Jiwoo's face is close to hers, too close. Heejung can feel his light breaths on her face, the scent of coffee tickling her nose. His open book is also pressed right against her chest, and when she looks away from his bright green eyes, she catches a glimpse of what he's reading.

_"I find myself drawn to his lips. They're perfect. The way he bites them is so, so frustrating when we're in public because I can't kiss him then. But we're alone now. There's no one to see the sin we're committing by disregarding our soul mates and choosing each other._

_"We kiss, and my heart beats so quickly, I'm afraid it's going to fly away. I grip the lapels of his jacket, feeling as if I'm melting._

_"'You're mine,' he growls, and I find myself agreeing. Forever and always, I'll be his—"_

Heejung diverts her eyes elsewhere, trying to erase all of what she just read. It's hard to keep the grimace off her face, but she manages it somehow. When she ends up meeting Jiwoo's eyes, Heejung's surprised to see him smirking.

"Is this a guilty pleasure of yours?" he asks, gently shaking the book in her face.

Heejung flushes, feeling uncomfortable under Jiwoo's gaze. It's embarrassing that a complete stranger like Jiwoo would accuse her of such a thing. Heejung rarely has time to read romance novels, much less a badly-written like _Fifteen Faces of a Maiden's Heart_, for them to even be a guilty pleasure.

Misinterpreting her silence, Jiwoo lets out a soft, triumphant "Aha, I knew it."

Instead of making fun of her, Jiwoo smiles. It makes Heejung feel like she's melting, having that smile directed at her. She immediately waves away that thought because it reminds her too much of the passages she'd accidentally read. What she's feeling right now is probably just a weird side effect of the realization that Jiwoo probably doesn't smile a lot, especially not like this.

"You should drop by the café again sometime," Jiwoo adds. "I missed seeing you there yesterday."

Jiwoo winks at her and leaves before Heejung can even respond, but she sees him buying the book. At least he has the decency to support authors of books he likes, even if they're bad ones like _Fifteen Faces of a Maiden's Heart._

Heejung picks her book back off the floor, frowning at the creases in the pages. She waits until Jiwoo's already left the store and then a bit longer to be sure before she approaches the cash register.

One thought haunts Heejung as she goes home, and what really bothers her is that it's about Jiwoo. She's spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about how he could miss her if he's only met her once.

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><p><strong>AN:** Thanks for reviewing, **QRed**, **CriticalFeral**, and **Inkwell Lynx**. I apologize for the: OOC, lateness, lame romance. But hey, slightly longer chapter, yeah? As for the novel that's mentioned way too many times this chapter: it's not real but it's based off a real book, and I'm guilty of stringing random words together to come up with the title.


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